A HEALTHY 49-year-old Birmingham businessman died suddenly after being struck down by a flu-like virus that spread to his heart.

Medics could have done nothing to save the life of tragic IT specialist John Vincent Gleeson, of Francis Road, Stechford, ruled Birmingham coroner Aidan Cotter.

Mr Gleeson was laughing and joking with staff at Heartlands Hospital A&E as they tried to figure out why he had a fever, shakes and had been under the weather for weeks.

But within seven hours, Mr Gleeson was dead.

Birmingham coroner's court heard a post mortem showed Mr Gleeson was struck by viral myocarditis, which causes an inflammation of the heart muscle and stops it working.

But despite the condition, the victim's brothers, James and Michael Gleeson, claimed the death had thrown up a series of concerns over medical treatment at Heartlands Hospital A&E, which they were referring to the Healthcare Commission. They are unhappy the condition was not diagnosed and no ECG heart scan was done when their brother was first admitted.

Coroner Mr Cotter gave a verdict of natural causes and said: "The problem is understanding why a 49-year-old man suddenly dies without any warning.

"John died because it was his time and there is no reason for it. He got an infection which damaged his heart and killed him.

"It was just bad luck.

"When he went to hospital, even if someone had guessed he had myocarditis, he still would have died."

Pathologist Dr Adrian Warfield said viral myocarditis was a "sporadic, unlucky infection" that strikes young and healthy people, with an average age of 42.

"The myocarditis caused the heart to be in a very sick state, but Mr Gleeson had nothing wrong with his heart before that," said Dr Warfield.

"There isn't a treatment and we don't have enough knowledge of viruses and what causes one person to shrug it off and another to die."

Mr Gleeson, who was single, died on November 1 last year.

Relatives of Mr Gleeson today said they would take their battle over treatment at Heartlands Hospital to top watchdogs.

Coroner Aidan Cotter urged the family to make an official complaint to the Healthcare Commission and said they "had a duty" to find out if errors were made.

They are concerned that routine heart tests were not carried out which, although they would not have made a difference in this case, could prove the difference between life and death for another patient.

His brother James Gleeson said: "Following our investigations, we have obvious concerns regarding the treatment of John at Heartlands Hospital on the day of his death.

"The remit the coroner was so limited in terms of what he can cover, particularly in view of what was probably inevitable in this case. Nevertheless, the coroner said strongly that he thought we have a duty to pursue this with the Healthcare Commission and it is difficult to comment further while we do that."

Mr Martin Shalley, emergency medicine consultant at Heartlands Hospital told the inquest that, looking back on the case, he would recommend junior doctors carry out an ECG heart test when patients are first being diagnosed.

"Maybe doing an ECG earlier would alert us to the condition, but he still would have died," said Mr Shalley.